Why are you reading the preface? The book really gets going in about 10 pages, so why are you here instead of there? Are you the kind of person who cannot stand the idea of missing something? Are you trying to justify the cost of the book by consuming every word? Did you just open to this page out of habit? Are you starting to think that maybe you made a big mistake?

For as long as we can remember, we have been asking questions like these about ourselves, about our friends, and about anyone else who did not run away fast enough. Our curiosity about why people think, feel, and act as they do drew each of us into our first psychology course, and though we remember being swept away by the lectures, we do not remember much about our textbooks. That is probably because those textbooks were little more than colourful encyclopedias of facts, names, and dates. Little wonder that we sold them back to the bookstore the moment we finished our final exams.

When we became psychology professors, we did the things that psychology professors often do: We taught classes, we conducted research, and we wore sweater vests long after they stopped being fashionable. We also wrote stuff that people truly enjoyed reading, and that made us wonder why no one had ever written an introductory psychology textbook that students truly enjoyed reading. After all, psychology is the single most interesting subject in the known universe, so why should a psychology textbook not be the single most interesting object in a student’s backpack? We could not think of a reason, so we sat down and wrote the book that we wished we had been given as students. The first American edition of Psychology was published in 2008, and the reaction to it was nothing short of astounding. We had never written a textbook before, so we did not know exactly what to expect, but never in our wildest dreams did we imagine that we would win the Pulitzer Prize!

Which was good, because we did not. But what did happen was even better: We started getting letters and emails from students all over the country who just wanted to tell us how much they liked reading our book. They liked the content, of course, because as we may have already mentioned, psychology is the single most interesting subject in the known universe. But they also liked the fact that our textbook did not sound like a textbook. It was not written in the stodgy voice of the announcer from one of those nature films that we all saw in seventh grade biology (“Behold the sea otter, nature’s furry little scavenger”). Rather, it was written in our voices—the same voices in which we talk to our students, our spouses, our kids, and our pets. We made a conscious effort to tell the story of psychology—to integrate topics rather than just list them, to illustrate ideas rather than just describe them. We realized that because science is such a complicated and serious business, some teachers might think that a science textbook should be complicated and serious too. We did not see it that way. We think writing is the art of making complicated things seem simple and of making serious things seem fun. The students who sent us nice letters seemed to agree (even if the Pulitzer Prize committee did not).

The last edition of our book was a hit—so why have we replaced it? Two reasons. First, we got tired of being asked about the two guys in checkerboard leotards who were cavorting on the cover. They are gone now, and we are only going to say this one more time: No, they were not any of us, and yes, they probably did use superglue. The second and somewhat more important reason for bringing out a new edition is that things change. Science changes (psychologists know all sorts of things about the mind and the brain that they didn’t know just a few years ago), the world changes (when we wrote the first edition, no one had heard of an iPad or Barack Obama), and we change (our research and reading gave us new perspectives on psychological issues, and our writing and teaching showed us new ways to help students learn). With all of these changes happening around us and to us, we felt that our book should change as well and now we are adding a Canadian edition, which is based on the third edition. So we are calling this edition the Third Canadian Edition.

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As sciences uncover new evidence and develop new theories, scientists change their minds. Some of the facts that students learn in a science course will still be facts a decade later, and others will require qualification or will turn out to have just been plain wrong. That’s why students not only need to learn the facts but also how to think about facts—how to examine, question, and weigh the evidence that scientists produce. We emphasize this sort of critical thinking throughout our text, of course, but in this edition, we have included a new section dedicated entirely to helping students think about the mistakes human beings make when they try to consider evidence (see “Thinking Critically about Evidence” in Chapter 2: Methods in Psychology, page 66). We hope this section will help students learn how to use empirical evidence to develop well-grounded beliefs—not only about psychological science but also about the stuff of their everyday lives.

Like other psychology textbooks, the first two editions of our text provided in-depth coverage of many different kinds of learning, ranging from classical conditioning to observational learning. This edition still does this. But strangely enough, the Learning chapters in most psychology texts, including the previous two editions of this text, have not said much about the very kind of learning that is most relevant to our readers: learning in the classroom. We think that it is about time to change this puzzling state of affairs, and so we have. Chapter 7 now includes a new section on learning in the classroom that summarizes some of the exciting recent developments in this area, including evaluation of the most effective study techniques, insights into cognitive illusions that can mislead us into studying ineffectively, research on how to improve attention and learning during lectures, and discussion of the prospects for online learning. The Learning chapter should be relevant to the lives of students, and we have done our best to make it so.

A textbook should give students a complete tour of the classics, of course, but it should also take them out dancing on the cutting edge. We want students to realize that psychology is not a museum piece—it is not just a collection of past events but also of current events—and that this young and evolving science has a place for them if they want it. So we have packed the third edition with information about what is happening in the field today. Not only have we included more than 400 new citations, but we have also featured some of the hottest new findings in the “Hot Science” boxes that you will find in every chapter.

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One area where there has been lots of new research—and lots of big changes—is in the study of psychological disorders. As you will learn, psychologists use a manual called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to make decisions about which behaviours should be formally considered “disordered.” For instance, we all get sad from time to time, but when should extreme sadness be classified as a psychological disorder that should be treated? The DSM answers questions like this. After nearly 20 years of using the fourth edition of the DSM (DSM-IV), the field of psychology now has an updated fifth edition (DSM-5), which was just published in 2013. Psychologists have learned a lot about psychological disorders over the past 20 years, and this third edition of our book contains updated information about how psychologists think about, define, and classify psychological disorders.

We have rearranged our table of contents to better fit our changing sense of how psychology is best taught. Specifically, we have moved the chapter on Stress and Health forward so that it now appears before the chapters on Psychological Disorders and Treatment of Psychological Disorders. We think this change improves the flow of the book in several ways. First, as you will learn, the experience of stress has a lot to do with interpersonal events and how we respond to them, information that you will have just learned about in the chapters on Personality and Social Psychology. Second, current models of psychological disorders view them as resulting from an interaction of some underlying predisposition (e.g., genetic or otherwise) and stressful life events. Such models will be much more intuitive if you first learn about the body’s stress response. Third, this chapter has information about health-promoting behaviours that could come in handy during exam season—and so better to tell you about them before the end of the semester!

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Long before psychologists appeared on Earth, the human nature business was dominated by poets, playwrights, pundits, philosophers, and several other groups beginning with P. Those folks are still in that business today, and they continue to have deep and original insights into how and why people behave as they do. In this edition, we decided to invite some of them to share their thoughts with you via a new feature that we call Other Voices. In every chapter, you will find a short essay by someone who has three critical qualities: (a) They think deeply, (b) they write beautifully, and (c) they know things we do not. For example, you will find essays by leading journalists such as David Brooks, Ted Gup, Tina Rosenberg, David Ewing Duncan, and Lisa Willemse; leading educators such as Robert Rothon; renowned legal scholar Elyn Saks; and eminent scientists such as biologist Greg Hampikian and computer scientist Daphne Koller. And just to make sure we are not the only psychologists whose voices you hear, we have included essays by Tim Wilson, Chris Chabris, Daniel Simons, V. S. Ramachandran, Stephen Porter, and Charles Fernyhough. Every one of these amazing people has something important to say about human nature, and we are delighted that they have agreed to say it in these pages. Not only do these essays encourage students to think critically about a variety of psychological issues, but they also demonstrate both the relevance of psychology to everyday life and the growing importance of our science in the public forum.

What can 784 introductory psychology professors agree about? They can agree that students usually come into their first psychology class with a set of beliefs about the field and that most of these beliefs are wrong. With the help of the wonderful people at Worth Publishers (they made us say that), we conducted a survey of 784 introductory psychology teachers and asked them to name their students’ most common misconceptions about psychology. We then created the Changing Minds questions you will see at the end of every chapter. These questions ask you first to think about an everyday situation in which a common misconception might arise, and then to use the science you have just learned to overcome that misconception. We hope these exercises will prepare you to apply what you learn—and maybe even change some minds about psychology (thereby justifying our corny title).

What would the facts and concepts of psychology be without real-world application? Throughout this edition of the text, we provide lots of examples of how the material presented in this book applies to things that you will experience in the real world. For instance, each chapter contains a The Real World box that applies concepts from inside the book to your life outside the book. (We like this idea so much we even included a box in the Preface!) In addition, because culture influences just about everything we do—from how we perceive lines to how long we will stand in them—this edition continues to celebrate the rich diversity of human beings both in Culture & Community boxes and throughout the text, as detailed on the next page.

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A complete correlation of the MCAT psychology topics with this book’s contents is available for download from the Resources area of LaunchPad at http://www.worthpublishers.com/launchpad/schacter3ecanadian. In addition, since the MCAT represents a global standard for assessing the ability to reason about scientific information, the Test Bank for Psychology, Third Canadian Edition, features a new set of data-based questions for each chapter, which are designed to test students’ quantitative reasoning. These questions are available for preview in LaunchPad.

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In writing the Canadian edition, we retained all the unique features of the first American edition textbook, and included the essential and updated coverage of the third American edition. Building on this third edition, our goal was to create a textbook that would engage Canadian students by situating the content in Canadian and international contexts, replacing American examples with those of relevance for both Canadian and other international students. This is why we call it the third Canadian edition. Current Canadian and international data replace American data and statistics where appropriate. We highlight the remarkable scientific accomplishments of Canadian scientists in psychology and neuropsychology, drawing upon Canadian issues. Finally, we have included photographs and figures that reflect the Canadian context and Canadian research.

To illustrate how we have incorporated a Canadian perspective, we highlight some of the specific information included across different chapters.

A comprehensive web resource for teaching and learning psychology

LaunchPad combines Worth Publishers’ award-winning media with an innovative platform for easy navigation. For students, it is the ultimate online study guide, with rich interactive tutorials and videos, as well as an e-Book and the LearningCurve adaptive quizzing system. For instructors, LaunchPad is a full course space where class documents can be posted, quizzes are easily assigned and graded, and students’ progress can be assessed and recorded. Whether you are looking for the most effective study tools or a robust platform for an online course, LaunchPad is a powerful way to enhance your class.

Despite what you might guess by looking at our photographs, we all found partners who were willing to marry us. We thank Susan McGlynn, Marilynn Oliphant, Keesha Nock, and Mark Wolforth for that particular miracle and also for their love and support during the time when we were busy writing this book.

Although ours are the names on the cover, writing a textbook is a team sport, and we were lucky to have an amazing group of professionals in our dugout. We greatly appreciate the contributions of Martin M. Antony, Mark Baldwin, Michelle A. Butler, Patricia Csank, Denise D. Cummins, Ian J. Deary, Howard Eichenbaum, Sam Gosling, Paul Harris, Catherine Myers, Shigehiro Oishi, Arthur S. Reber, Morgan T. Sammons, Dan Simons, Alan Swinkels, Richard M. Wenzlaff, and Steven Yantis.

We are grateful for the editorial, clerical, and research assistance we received from Molly Evans and Mark Knepley.

In addition, we would like to thank our core supplements authors. They provided insight into the role our book can play in the classroom and adeptly developed the materials to support it. Chad Galuska, Jeff Henriques, and Russ Frohardt, we appreciate your tireless work in the classroom and the experience you brought to the book’s supplements.

We would like to thank the faculty who reviewed the manuscript. These teachers showed a level of engagement we have come to expect from our best colleagues.

For the Canadian edition, we thank:

George Alder Simon Fraser University

Karen Brebner St. Francis Xavier University

Stan Cameron Centennial College

Karla Emeno University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Gerald Goldberg York University

Peter Graf University of British Columbia

Mark Holder University of British Columbia–Okanagan

Tru Kwong Mount Royal University

Laura Loewen Okanagan College

Michael MacGregor University of Saskatchewan

Stacey MacKinnon University of Prince Edward Island

Colleen MacQuarrie University of Prince Edward Island

Neil McGrenaghan Humber College

Rick Mehta Acadia University

Lisa Sinclair University of Winnipeg

Michael Souza University of British Columbia

Paul Valliant Laurentian University

Ena Vukatana University of Calgary

Bruce Walker Humber College

Kristian Weihs Seneca College

Leslie Wright Dalhousie University

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For the American edition, we thank:

Eileen Achorn University of Texas, San Antonio

Jim Allen SUNY Geneseo

Randy Arnau University of Southern Mississippi

Benjamin Bennett-Carpenter Oakland University

Stephen Blessing University of Tampa

Kristin Biondolillo Arkansas State University

Jeffrey Blum Los Angeles City College

Richard Bowen Loyola University of Chicago

Nicole Bragg Mt. Hood Community College

Jennifer Breneiser Valdosta State University

Michele Brumley Idaho State University

Josh Burk College of William and Mary

Jennifer Butler Case Western Reserve University

Richard Cavasina California University of Pennsylvania

Amber Chenoweth Kent State University

Stephen Chew Samford University

Chrisanne Christensen Southern Arkansas University

Sheryl Civjan Holyoke Community College

Jennifer Dale Community College of Aurora

Jennifer Daniels University of Connecticut

Joshua Dobias University of New Hampshire

Dale Doty Monroe Community College

Julie Evey-Johnson University of Southern Indiana

Valerie Farmer-Dugan Illinois State University

Diane Feibel University of Cincinnati, Raymond Walters College

Jocelyn Folk Kent State University

Chad Galuska College of Charleston

Afshin Gharib Dominican University of California

Jeffrey Gibbons Christopher Newport University

Adam Goodie University of Georgia

John Governale Clark College

Patricia Grace Kaplan University Online

Sarah Grison University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Deletha Hardin University of Tampa

Jason Hart Christopher Newport University

Lesley Hathorn Metropolitan State College of Denver

Mark Hauber Hunter College

Jacqueline Hembrook University of New Hampshire

Allen Huffcutt Bradley University

Mark Hurd College of Charleston

Linda Jackson Michigan State University

Jennifer Johnson Rider University

Lance Jones Bowling Green State University

Linda Jones Blinn College

Katherine Judge Cleveland State University

Don Kates College of DuPage

Martha Knight-Oakley Warren Wilson College

Ken Koenigshofer Chaffey College

Neil Kressel William Patterson University

Josh Landau York College of Pennsylvania

Fred Leavitt California State University, East Bay

Tera Letzring Idaho State University

Karsten Loepelmann University of Alberta

Ray Lopez University of Texas at San Antonio

Jeffrey Love Penn State University

Greg Loviscky Penn State, University Park

Lynda Mae Arizona State University at Tempe

Caitlin Mahy University of Oregon

Gregory Manley University of Texas at San Antonio

Karen Marsh University of Minnesota at Duluth

Robert Mather University of Central Oklahoma

Wanda McCarthy University of Cincinnati at Clermont College

Daniel McConnell University of Central Florida

Robert McNally Austin Community College

Dawn Melzer Sacred Heart University

Dennis Miller University of Missouri

Mignon Montpetit Miami University

Todd Nelson California State University at Stanislaus

Margaret Norwood Community College of Aurora

Aminda O’Hare University of Kansas

Melissa Pace Kean University

Brady Phelps South Dakota State University

Raymond Phinney Wheaton College

Claire St. Peter Pipkin West Virginia University, Morgantown

Christy Porter College of William and Mary

Douglas Pruitt West Kentucky Community and Technical College

Elizabeth Purcell Greenville Technical College

Gabriel Radvansky University of Notre Dame

Celia Reaves Monroe Community College

Diane Reddy University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Cynthia Shinabarger Reed Tarrant County College

David Reetz Hanover College

Tanya Renner Kapi’olani Community College

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Anthony Robertson Vancouver Island University

Nancy Rogers University of Cincinnati

Wendy Rote University of Rochester

Larry Rudiger University of Vermont

Sharleen Sakai Michigan State University

Matthew Sanders Marquette University

Phillip Schatz Saint Joseph’s University

Vann Scott Armstrong Atlantic State University

Colleen Seifert University of Michigan at Ann Arbor

Wayne Shebilske Wright State University

Elisabeth Sherwin University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Lisa Shin Tufts University

Kenith Sobel University of Central Arkansas

Genevieve Stevens Houston Community College

Mark Stewart American River College

Holly Straub University of South Dakota

Mary Strobbe San Diego Miramar College

William Struthers Wheaton College

Lisa Thomassen Indiana University

Jeremy Tost Valdosta State University

Laura Turiano Sacred Heart University

Jeffrey Wagman Illinois State University

Alexander Williams University of Kansas

John Wright Washington State University

Dean Yoshizumi Sierra College

Keith Young University of Kansas

We are especially grateful to the extraordinary people of Worth Publishers. They include senior vice president Catherine Woods and publisher Kevin Feyen, who provided guidance and encouragement at all stages of the project; our acquisitions editor, Dan DeBonis, who managed the project with intelligence, grace, and good humour; our development editors, Valerie Raymond and Mimi Melek; director of development for print and digital products Tracey Kuehn; project editor Robert Errera; production manager Sarah Segal; and editorial assistant Katie Garrett, who through some remarkable alchemy turned a manuscript into a book; our art director Babs Reingold; layout designer Paul Lacy; photograph editor Cecilia Varas; and photograph researcher Elyse Rieder, who made that book an aesthetic delight; our media editor Rachel Comerford; and production manager Stacey Alexander, who guided the development and creation of a superb supplements package; our marketing manager Lindsay Johnson; and associate director of market development Carlise Stembridge, who served as tireless public advocates for our vision. For the Canadian edition, we would like to thank the team at First Folio Resource Group Inc. for editorial and production services, and Maria DeCambra & Associates for photograph editing and research. Thank you one and all. We look forward to working with you again.

Daniel L. Schacter

Daniel T. Gilbert

Matthew K. Nock

Ingrid S. Johnsrude